The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of daptomycin was compared with that of four other antimicrobial agents against clinically relevant staphylococci. Sixtyfive isolates were obtained from patients on continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) who contracted peritonitis. These isolates comprised 29 S. Sureus strains (all sensitive to oxacillin); 25 S. epidermidis strains (14 sensitive and 9 resistant to oxacillin); and 11 unspeciated coagulase-negative staphylococci (2 sensitive and 11 resistant to oxacillin). All of the oxacillin susceptible strains were inhibited by ≤2 mg/L of the five antibiotics tested. The oxacillin resistant staphylococci were also resistant to cefuroxime and variably resistant to cefamandole, but were uniformly susceptible to both vancomycin and daptomycin. Daptomycin possesses equivalent in vitro activity to vancomycin against strains of S. Sureus and coagulase negative staphylococci associated with CAPD peritonitis. If vancomycin resistance becomes a significant problem in these patients, and daptomycin is shown to be active against vancomycin resistant organisms, then it would have potential usefulness as an alternative to vancomycin in the treatment of peritonitis caused by multiply -resistant staphylococci.


Objective
To investigate the homogenization of standardized training for psychiatrists in Jiangsu Province.

Methods
One hundred and six trained psychiatry residents from seven mental training bases in Jiangsu Province were selected as the subjects. A questionnaire was designed for field investigation.

Results
There was no significant difference in sex, age, source, working time, or medical practising certificate among the psychiatry residents from different hospitals (P>0.05), but there was a significant difference in educational background and training time (P 0.05). Compared with the hospitals with the highest score, all four psychotic hospitals and one general hospital had lower scores of clinical ability (P<0.05), two psychotic hospitals and one general hospital had lower scores of scientific research ability (P<0.05), and the scores of scientific research ability of two psychotic hospitals and one general hospital were significantly lower (P<0.05).

Conclusion
The homogenization level of mental education in Jiangsu Province needs to be further improved.

Key words:
Standardized training; Training effect; Homogeneity; Psychiatry


The study of ancient Chinese synonyms has been achieved considerable fruits over the past 20 years.These achievements make the study of ancient Chinese synonyms approach much closer to the language facts theoretically.They are more systematic and scientific in the research of specific problems and show such tendency in the development that synonyms are studied in the specialized books.


Load flow and optimal power flow (OPF) constitute core computations used in energy market operation. We considered different design partitions of computational tasks for a desktop computer equipped with field programmable gate array (FPGA). Load flow and OPF require lower-upper triangular matrix decomposition (LU). The number of clock cycles required for data transfer and floating-point operations were used as performance measures in determining optimal hardware/software partitions for each problem. Optimal partition performance is achieved by assigning the lower-upper triangular decomposition (LU) and matrix multiplication operations to custom hardware cores. A comparison between the proposed partition and software implemented using a state-of-the-art sparse matrix package running on a 3.2 GHz Pentium 4 shows a six-fold speedup


Most of the damages induced on the structures through earthquakes can be attributed to the irregularities in plan of buildings. Also soil Structure Interaction (SSI) effect is known to alter the seismic response of structures depending on the fundamental dynamic properties of the structure and of the soil layers. Torsional seismic response analysis of structures may be significantly affected by SSI, particularly for structures with double eccentricity where unpredictable and immeasurable factors affect on results. Hence, evaluation of the extent of SSI forces may be of prime importance. For Foundations resting on soil layers, assumption of rigidity or flexibility of foundation may lead to different results in seismic analysis. In order to study the effect of seismic waves and flexibility of foundation-structure on the torsional response of double eccentricity structures, an idealized system is considered which includes a single storey building with double eccentricity resting on a homogenous elastic half space. Results show that several parameters affect on torsional response of structures under earthquake loads, including embedment, frequency, mass and flexibility ratios. Regression analysis carried on the results which led to the development of an equation which is capable of evaluating the eccentricity while these parameters are effectively taken into account. Discussion on the results obtained continues throughout the paper.


Trust is the belief or confidence in someone that their recommendations will work for you, i.e. that you will like the TV-programs (or other content) that they recommend. Many systems incorporate some notion of trust. Trust is more than similarity in taste, which makes trust a broader concept than the concept of similarity used in Collaborative Filtering. This paper describes ongoing work on the development of a trust-aware Personal Video Recorder (PVR). It presents a taxonomy of ways in which trust can be quantified and gives first ideas about automatically deriving trust for use in a PVR system.


In the 1973 Fall Meeting of the Acoustical Society a color movie was shown by the authors depicting the unsteady pressure and flow phenomena occurring in and near rectangular shallow cavities that are exposed to high‐speed flow. In the meantime, a detailed investigation took place on the characteristics of the flow‐induced discrete cavity pressure modes and their dependence on pertinent aerodynamic and geometric parameters. It is now possible to estimate the occurrence of resonant modes, their maximum levels, and their amplitude distribution within a cavity over a free‐stream Mach number range of 0.2–3.0 for cavities with a length‐to‐depth ratio from 2 to 5.5. [This research program was supported by the Air Force Flight Dynamics Laboratory of Wright‐Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio.]


One of the remarkable features of blazars is violent variability over a wide wavelength range. The variation mechanism causing the observed complex behavior is still under debate. The variability timescales range from less than a day to decades. Variation on timescales less than a day is known as "microvariability." Such short-term variations can provide insights regarding the origin of the variability after they are distinguished from longer-term variational components. We select about 195 microvariability events from the continuous light curve of blazar W2R 1926+42 with 1-min time resolution obtained by the Kepler spacecraft, and estimate the timescale and amplitude of each event. The rise and decay timescales of the events reveal random variations over short timescales less than a day, but they indicate systematic variations on timescales longer than several days. This result implies that the events are not independent, but rather mutually correlated.


Integrated care is seen as an important new method towards more demand-driven and costconscious health systems. In November 2013, a 4-year, multidisciplinary and multi-method research project on integrated care in Flanders (Belgium) was launched: CORTEXS – Integrating Care. The €3 million project focuses on long term care. CORTEXS strives to combine high quality innovative basic research with a strategic utilization of the research results. The research agenda covers three domains: To develop concepts of integrated care that meet the requirements of availability, quality, feasibility, patient empowerment and job quality; To optimize the work processes and design of care organizations in terms of care quality, job quality, and productivity; To identify the conditions that foster (or impede) effective organizational coordination, normative integration and implementation of high quality care concepts. Especially the innovative


The large swells invade the Toyama Wan from October to April every year,and cause wave disasters such as ship dragging anchor, grounding and so on, around the Toyama Wan. It is considered that the wave disasters are mainly caused by swells and water level fluctuations with long periods, and so beat phenomena of swells and periodic water level fluctuations are investigated using water level data observed from December, 2017 to March, 2018. The following results are obtained. (1) There were proper oscillations with periods of about 1.5 minutes, 13 minutes, 30 minutes and so on, in the coastal water of Toyama Wan. (2) It is confirmed that swells beat with period of about 30 minutes due to the periodic water level fluctuation with period of about 30 minutes. These results suggest that swells beat with more long period such as a period of about 12 hours, due to ocean tide. It is a future problem to investigate a possibility that swells beat with more long period such as a period of about 12 hours, due to ocean tide.


Thrombocytopenia defined as platelet count of less than 1,50,000/cu.mm. It is a common hematological disorder. It is second only to anemia as the most common hematological abnormality in pregnancy. Thrombocytopenia is being more frequently diagnosed in pregnant women since the last 20 years. Thrombocytopenia in pregnant women may result from the effects of diverse processes, which may be either physiological or pathological.


The title compound, C31H24F4N2O, exists in a chair–boat conformation with an equatorial orientation of the 2-fluorophenyl groups on both sides of the secondary amino group of the chair form. The benzene rings in the 'chair' part are inclined to each other at 19.4 (1)°, while the equivalent angle between the benzene rings in the 'boat' part is 75.6 (1)°. One F atom was treated as disordered over two positions in a 0.838 (4):0.162 (4) ratio. In the crystal, N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds link the molecules into chains along [001] and these chains are held together via weak N—H⋯F and C—H⋯F interactions.


The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of group-based consultations on pre-service primary school teachers' English teaching...


This paper investigates the e ff ect of the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of firms on bank loans using bank–firm matched data of Japanese listed firms from 2006 to 2018. Previous findings suggest that climate risks priced in corporate bonds or syndi-cated loans are statistically significant but economically minor. This paper investigates bank lending behavior in terms of the loan amount, which we consider to have a more direct e ff ect on firm investment decisions. This paper finds that banks significantly decrease loans to firms with higher GHG emissions. Moreover, this GHG emissions e ff ect appears to have prevailed even before the signing of the Paris Agreement, which the existing literature considers as the starting point where GHG emissions are incorporated in the pricing of debt instruments as credit risk. Finally, banks with greater leverage and a lower return on assets are more likely to decrease loans to firms with high GHG emissions.


Considering such characteristics of dissolved oxygen in aeration process as non-linearity, timevariability and uncertainty, a control algorithm based on fuzzy adaptive PID and a design of fuzzy adaptive PID control system realized by Siemens S7 programming for dissolved oxygen are proposed. The operating principle, control design, hardware and software realization plan for the system were introduced, and the experiment results were given. The results show that the system can compensate for the deficiency of ordinary PID and simple fuzzy control and a preferable control effect is obtained.


Problems of measurement the kinematic parameters, with reference to problems of aviation mechanical engineering are investigated. Sensors for measurement the kinematic parameters, based on various physical effects are resulted, their basic merits and demerits are considered.


The authors consider discrete-time linear periodic descriptor systems and study the concepts of solvability and conditionability, introduced by Luenberger. They prove that solvability is equivalent to conditionability, just as in the time-invariant case. We give a characterization of solvability/conditionability in terms of a cyclic matrix pencil and, furthermore, propose a simple test via the periodic Schur decomposition to check for either property. This could lead to further systematic study of these systems.


This work examines the use of ant colony optimization (ACO) to improve long short-term memory (LSTM) recurrent neural networks (RNNs) by refining their cellular structure. The evolved networks were trained on a large database of flight data records obtained from an airline containing flights that suffered from excessive vibration. Results were obtained using MPI (Message Passing Interface) on a high performance computing (HPC) cluster, which evolved 1000 different LSTM cell structures using 208 cores over 5 days. The new evolved LSTM cells showed an improvement in prediction accuracy of 1.37%, reducing the mean prediction error from 6.38% to 5.01% when predicting excessive engine vibrations 10 seconds in the future, while at the same time dramatically reducing the number of trainable weights from 21,170 to 11,650. The ACO optimized LSTM also performed significantly better than traditional Nonlinear Output Error (NOE), Nonlinear AutoRegression with eXogenous (NARX) inputs, and Nonlinear Box-Jenkins (NBJ) models, which only reached error rates of 11.45%, 8.47% and 9.77%, respectively. The ACO algorithm employed could be utilized to optimize LSTM RNNs for any time series data prediction task.


Control of quantum interference features: molecular junctions incorporating pyrrolodipyridine-based molecular wires were fabricated by scanning probe methods. Quantum interference effects were introduced by employing meta-connected molecules, and modulated in magnitude by changing the substituent on the pyrrolic N. Dramatic changes in molecular conductance and DFT transport calculations demonstrate the storng effect that small changes in electronic density can have on the overall conductance of a molecular wire.


A hindcast wave database and a wave database based on future climate scenarios for the Baltic Sea, Kattegat and Skagerrak is under development. The wind force used for the wave simulation is coming form the RCA model and the future wind from RCA is based on global climate model ECHAM4 for one emission scenario (IPCC SRES A2). The phase averaged spectral model SWAN (Simulated WAves Nearshore) model is used for simulating the wave field. The model is driven by atmospheric forcing and it simulates waves generated by the wind and their propagation both in deep water and near shore areas. When realistic winds are provided the model has an outstanding performance. Winds from the Mesan reanalysis and the RCA model were used as forcing for the SWAN model simulating short hindcast storms for the validation of the wave model in connection with the winds. RCA results appeared to underestimate extreme winds. A correction was introduced which used an empirical relation between 3-second gust and the wind velocity. The model data were compared with observational data. Statistical parameters like scatter index, bias and symmetric slope were used to judge the quality of the data. The performance of the wave model with Mesan is very good. Model and observed data appear to have a good correlation. The performance with RCA is worse and it underestimates the wave height during extreme wind events. The performance when using corrected RCA winds is improved and data give better statistical values when they are compared with observations. The reason for using RCA forcing was the length of RCA data, 40 years of hindcast, and the 50 years of future winds based on global climate scenarios. The corrected coefficient was applied to the RCA and used to force SWAN. Only one year of hindcast has been performed initially while the 40 year run is planned to be performed in the near future. Moreover, a run based on future scenario has been performed. Six month is 1970 were run as control period and 6 months in 2020 as a future projection, giving insight to some of the possible changes in the future wave climate. Thirty years of control run and thirty years of future projection are in progress.


As a new government personnel system,government employee system has not only innovated the concept of government personnel management,but also accelerated the reform of it.On the other hand,as a new system in China which is still on the way of exploration,the government employee system has caused some negative effects and problems.Based on the present situation and previous study of the government employee system,this thesis aims at giving an all-round and systematic summary and exploration of the practice of the system.Also it includes the author's opinions on how to perfect the government employee system.


Congenital hyposensitivity to pain is a condition with predisposition to injury. In these patients, knowledge regarding anesthetic requirements and complications derives from individual case reports, or small case series. Different categories have been described. In patients with hyposensitivity to pain, preventing and treating anxiety as well as insuring immobilization, avoidance of triggering of autonomic reflexes, and sedation are integral aspects for a safe and adequate anesthetic management. © 2014 Baishideng Publishing Group Co., Limited. All rights reserved.


Marital separation: the painful process of the dissolution of conjugality. The purpose of this study was to investigate how middle class men and women experience the process of marriage dissolution and seek to reconstruct their individual identity after marital separation. A field study was conducted with 16 middle class women and 16 middle class men, living in Rio de Janeiro. Their age range varied from 25 to 35 years (1 st age group) and from 45 to 55 years (2 nd age group). All subjects had been married once, were separated and had not remarried again. The data were obtained through semi-structured interviews. Relevant differences were not observed between the two age groups, although differences between male and female experiences were examined according to the following evaluation categories: willingness to separate, decision to separate, separation process and reconstruction of individual identity.


We shed light on the structure of the "three-operator" version of the forward-Douglas– Rachford splitting algorithm for nding a zero of a sum of maximally monotone operators A+B+C, where B is cocoercive, involving only the computation of B and of the resolvent ofA and of C, separately. We show that it is a straightforward extension of a xed-point algorithm proposed by us as a generalization of the forward-backward splitting algorithm, initially designed for nding a zero of a sumof an arbitrary number ofmaximallymonotone operators ∑ n i=1 A i + B, where B is cocoercive, involving only the computation of B and of the resolvent of each A i separately. We argue that, the former is the "true" forward-Douglas–Rachford splitting algorithm, in contrast to the initial use of this designation in the literature. en, we highlight the extension to an arbitrary number of maximally monotone operators in the splitting,∑i=1 A i + B + C, in a formulation admitting preconditioning operators. We nally demonstate experimentally its interest in the context of nonsmooth convex optimization.


Background The ability to provide rural residents with high-quality health care is contingent upon an adequate supply of local providers. However, the shortage and maldistribution of physicians persists in rural America, despite ongoing federal and state efforts to increase the supply of physicians practicing in rural locations. This study describes the training of the rural physician workforce and examines variations in the production of rural physicians by medical schools and residencies across the United States.


Thermal-mechanical behavior of functionally graded thick plates, with one pair of opposite edges simply supported, is investigated based on 3D thermoelasticity. As for the arbitrary boundary conditions, a semi-analytical solution is presented via a hybrid approach combining the state space method and the technique of differential quadrature. The temperature field in the plate is determined according to the steady-state 3D thermal conduction. The Mori-Tanaka method with a power-law volume fraction profile is used to predict the effective material properties including the bulk and shear moduli, while the effective coefficient of thermal expansion and the thermal conductivity are estimated using other micromechanics-based models. To facilitate the implementation of state space analysis through the thickness direction, the approximate laminate model is employed to reduce the inhomogeneous plate into a homogeneous laminate that delivers a state equation with constant coefficients. The present solutions are validated by comparisons with the exact ones for both thin and thick plates. Effects of gradient indices, volume fraction of ceramics, and boundary conditions on the thermomechanical behavior of functionally graded plates are discussed.


Introduction: 1. Provincial art and Roman imperialism: an overview Sarah Scott Part I. Conceptualizing Provincial Art: 2. Art, Romanization and competence Catherine Johns 3. Art as resistance and negotiation Jane Webster Part II. Metropolitan Art and the Depiction of Rome's 'Others': 4. 'The hanged men dance': Barbarians in Trajanic art Iain Ferris 5. Female representation in Roman art: feminizing the provincial 'Other' Rene Rodgers Part III. Art in the Roman West: 6. Poles apart?: Perceptions of gender in Gaulish and British cult-imagery Miranda Aldhouse Green 7. 'The Captains and the Kings depart' Martin Henig 8. Seeing Apollo in Roman Gaul and Germany Greg Woolf Part IV. Art in Roman North Africa: 9. Family values? Art and power at Ghirza, Tripolitania David Matingly Part V. Art in the Roman East: 10. The houses of Antioch: a study of the domestic sphere in the imperial Near East Shelley Hales 11. Art and identity in Asia Minor Zahra Newby Epilogue: 12. Art and aesthetics: a personal view Martin Henig.


Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most common and lethal type of primary brain tumor, and usually leads the patient to death in approximately 14 months after diagnosis. The treatment consists of surgical removal of the tumor, followed by radiotherapy and chemotherapy. However, due to the high resistance of tumor cells, frequently the tumor grows again a few weeks after surgery. We recently demonstrated that HJURP (Holliday Junction Recognizing Protein), a novel protein involved in DNA repair, is highly overexpressed in glioblastoma cells. This protein is also overexpressed in other tumor types, such as lung and breast cancer, in which higher expression levels are correlated with a poorer survival prognosis, as we also observed for GBM patients. In this study we found that HJURP mRNA levels are increased in the GBM cell lines T98G, U138MG, U251MG e U343MG, while in U87MG cells HJURP levels are similar to that of non-tumoral fibrobalsts. We have also observed that the repair of DNA double-stranded breaks, induced by ionizing radiation, occurs similarly in GBM cells U138MG, U251MG and U343MG when HJURP is silenced or not. We also saw that U87MG and T98G cells were more sensitive to radiation when HJURP is knocked down, presenting higher rates of apoptosis and cell death. Moreover, we observed that HJURP silencing promotes premature senescence in the U87MG cell line, whereas T98G cells and non-tumoral fibroblasts are not significantly affected. Altogether, these data suggests that HJURP is related with the control of DNA repair activity and is required for the maintenance of GBM cells viability.


In Paul Claudel's drama, the Catholic spirit and the Buddhist exoticism intersect in a very distinctive way. The Soteriology remains the central proposition, but it is never limited to traditional redemptive dogma, but enriches it with that of Buddhist deliverance which combines with the philosophy and aesthetics of India, China and Japan. This syncretism created a very singular literary atmosphere in his drama. Claudel's acceptance and transformation of Buddhist ideas on deliverance is a long personal and cultural history. We combined the external philological studies with the intensive analysis of the texts in order to show how the dialogue between Catholic theology and Buddhism exerts influence on French literature from the nineteenth to the twentieth century. This study takes into account the characteristics of the Oriental experience of Claudel, as well as the development of his literary thought and his Buddhist source. We have extracted three stereotyped Buddhist systems: primitive Buddhism in the Indian region, which preaches suffering, emptiness and nihilism; the "degraded" Chinese Buddhism awaiting the salvation of Christ; Japanese Buddhism, with the beauty of pleasant melancholy, serves as a spiritual healing of the West in crisis. We choose three representative works: Tete d'Or, Le Repos du Septieme Jour, Le Soulier de Satin. By combining external historical study with text analysis, we have re-established a three-step process, in keeping with the diachronic development of Claudel's Buddhi-Catholic ideology.


In this contribution we introduce and describe three electronics for MEMS and ASIC testing. With them it is possible to select best working MEMS- and ASIC dies to set up high performance gyroscope systems. We highlight the Active Probecard which makes it possible to operate and characterize MEMS gyroscopes as a provisionally system already at wafer-level. These results are compared with the resulting system-level tests and coherences are shown. The most influencing parameters on noise level are elaborated. Moreover, first results of the new designed DC quadrature compensation electrodes on noise performance are shown which reduce ARW from 0.07 °/√h to 0.02 °/√h and BI from 1.3 °/h to 0.4 °/h.


Abstract : This report presents the initial (Phase I) results of a two-phase project undertaken to characterize and estimate the benefits of applying advanced communications and information technologies, through the GridWise(TradeMark) initiative, to bring the aging U.S. electricity grid into the information age. GridWise is a vision, a concept, and a national initiative developed by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), and participants from the electricity industry. GridWise seeks to link electricity suppliers and end-users with high-speed networks that provide real-time information about system capacities, demand, prices, and status. Its proponents anticipate that the integration of communications and information with the electricity grid will facilitate competitive, efficient markets for power, enable each participant to actively manage its own production and consumption decisions, help the system balance supply and demand under both normal and stressful conditions, and in general provide diagnostic information and tools to better manage both system operations and end-user applications.


A comparison of the Management Measures of GMP before and after its revision indicates that the new one specifies the duty,increases the standard and strengthens service consciousness while something should be perfected.


Abstract The k-means clustering algorithm is a commonly used algorithm for palette design. If an adequate initial palette is selected, a good quality reconstructed image of a compressed colour image can be achieved. The major problem is that a great deal of computational cost is consumed. To accelerate the k-means clustering algorithm, two test conditions are employed in the proposed algorithm. From the experimental results, it is found that the proposed algorithm significantly cuts down the computational cost of the k-means clustering algorithm without incurring any extra distortion.


The quantitative understanding of nerve function, a major problem in medicine, could be advanced by applying the principles of surface chemistry to nerves, according to Martin Blank of the department of physiology and cellular biophysics at Columbia University. Blank noted at the recent American Chemical Society meeting in Anaheim, Calif., that the complexity of biological membranes and the lack of information about transport processes at the molecular level have resulted in the belief that simple physical laws do not apply to passive transport in such structures. It would seem that developing a physical theory for these phenomena must await the results of further experimentation that uncover new correlations and, consequently, new generalizations on nerve behavior. But Blank says that this is exactly what has been happening in the past few years: The surface compartment model (SCM) requires no new theories, but only that electrical double layers be included in the classical description of transport. Blan...


The study of spherically expanding flames in closed vessels affords the calculation of propagation velocity Ss for deflagrations of flammable gaseous mixtures, defined as the flame front velocity in respect to a fixed coordinate system (the explosion vessel). The calculation is based on normal burning velocities Su obtained from records of pressure variation during the early stage of flame propagation. In the present contribution, propane-air mixtures of variable composition ([C3H8] = 2.5 – 6.2 vol.%) were studied, at various initial pressures within 0.3 and 1.3 bar and various initial temperatures (within 298 and 550 K). The propagation velocities of examined systems, extrapolated to initial conditions (incipient stage of flame development) obtained from experimental data are examined against propagation velocities obtained from kinetic modelling of propane-air propagation by means of two packages (INSFLA, which used the mechanism developed by Warnatz for combustion of C1-C4 hydrocarbons and COSILAB, using GRI mechanism developed by the Gas Research Institute for combustion of C1-C3 alkanes).


The ability to execute true distributed and collaborative planning for amphibious operations, including ship-to-objective maneuver, selected intelligence and meteorological functions, and plan rehearsal is critical in the fast moving littoral/expeditionary warfare area. As part of an ongoing series of newly developed Tactical Decision Aids (TDA) for the Global Command and Control System – Maritime (GCCS-M), the Office of Naval Research has sponsored the development of an expeditionary warfare planning segment for GCCS-M. This TDA incorporates operating features of and shares a common database with the existing GCCS-M Mine Warfare Environmental Decision Aids Library (MEDAL) segment, known officially as MCMSEG, allowing extensive data sharing between mine warfare and amphibious warfare planners. It is currently under experimental fleet use by deploying US Amphibious Ready Groups (ARG) and their staffs. It has been tested during a recent NATO exercise involving multi-national Amphibious Groups. It is currently deployed on a majority of the US amphibious ships involved in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Its employment and operational use are discussed in this paper.


The utility model relates to a vertical bus bar quick mounting structure which comprises a horizontal bus bar (1), a base (2), a pressure equalizing plate (3) and a purpose-made bolt (4), wherein the base (2) is hooked on the horizontal bus bar (1); the horizontal bus bar (1) and the pressure equalizing plate (3) are respectively arranged on both sides of a vertical bus bar (5) and clamp the vertical bus bar (5); the purpose-made bolt penetrates through the base (2) and is connected with the pressure equalizing plate (3); and the purpose-made bolt (4) is connected with the base (2) through threads. Compared with the prior art, the vertical bus bar quick mounting structure does not need to make holes in the vertical bus bar and the horizontal bus bar, thereby lowering the production difficulty and strength, reducing the production quality accidents, lowering the production cost and mounting cost, implements quick mounting, and eliminates the potential safety hazard in the maintenance and application process.


Analyse the effect of the static working point in the amplifier circuit.and on the base of several types of amplifier circuits,give the way to calculate the static working point.


In an effort to obtain, large numbers of data on mental development in children with C H, questionnaires were sent (after previous inquiries) to 28 screening centers in 15 European countries. Thanks to the collaboration of many collegues and psychologists, we have received, so far individual data of 648 children with C H. The data comprises developmental/intelligence quotients (total, subscores) obtained at the ages of 6 months (n=189), 12 m (n=365), 24 m (n=254), 36 m (n=139), 48 m (n=125), 60 m (n=61), 72 m (n=19), and 84 m (n=17). Further data are to be expected during the next weeks.Developmental/intelligence quotients will be analyzed by the standard deviation score method where applicable, and related to various factors, such as exact diagnosis (athyroidism/ectopic thyroid/others), age at onset of therapy, socio-economic status, pre/peri/postnatal risk factors, and associated findings. Being able to pool a large number of data, this study should yield valid information about the significance of these factors for the mental outcome of children with C H.Supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation Grant No, 3,906.0.83 and 3.971.0.82.


replaced with chicken D137L Tm showed a 0.15 increase in pCa50 compared to WT. This result supports the hypothesis (Sumida et al., 2008) that the increased flexibility imparted to the Tm coiled-coiled structure by Asp at 137 avoids excessive turning-on of the system at the high physiological myosin concentrations. Supported by Telethon-Italy GGP07133, STREP Project ''BIGHEART'' 241577 EC and NIH HL22461.


A description is given of the 100 kV photocathode gun of the 400 kV Polarized Electron Source (PES) used for internal target physics on polarized light nuclei at the Amsterdam Pulse Stretcher (AmPS) storage ring. The gun provides 2 μs long pulses of polarized electrons with a current up to 50 mA, at a repetition rate of 1 Hz, and a polarization degree up to 85%. Using the pulsed power supply, no deterioration of the vacuum during gun operation has been observed. An operational lifetime (1/e), using an InGaAsP photocathode, of 180 hours has been measured. The injection efficiency of the polarized beam from PES into the linear Medium Energy Accelerator is measured to be ≈30%.


In present scenario there is a lot of problems of diabetes including problem of weight loss, loss of nutrients and energy in body. So this is a perfect combination, Spirulina is a source of high protein and it provide sufficient amount of energy and nutrition to the body, while Charantin helps to cure the diabetes. Based on the systematically analysis of Spirulina contains in protein, lipid, carbohydrate, aliphatic (C-H), Carbonyl (esters and acid), Carbonyl Beta-Unsaturated Ketone amide (C=N), ester, symmetric C-H stretching vibration, halogen compounds (C-Cl) and Iodo compound (C-I). So, the FT-IR spectrum shows more characteristic features. These are phytochemicals may responsible for the medicinal property of the micro algae Spirulina. The fruit and leaves of M. charantia L-(Bitter Melon) are used to reduce the levels of blood sugar. For centuries, bitter Melon has been used as food and medicine in Asia, as therapeutic remedy in a variety of illnesses such as leukemia, diabetes, asthma, insect bites, maladies and stomach problems and importance for the treatment of diabetes. However, there is need to study and evaluate this natural compound clinically to develop an Organic Spirulina, with Charantin for anti-diabetic activities.


An optical element including a molded article is provided, the molded article being prepared by molding a polymer prepared by polymerizing a (meth)acrylate compound represented at least by the following general formula (1): Formula 1 wherein a and b are each an integer of 1 or 2; X and Y are each -S- or -O-; R1 and R2 are each an alkyl group having 1 or 2 carbon atoms or a hydrogen atom; and Z1 and Z2 are each an alkyl group having 1 or 2 carbon atoms, having a substituent and represented by the following general formula (2): Formula 2 wherein m is selected from 0 and 1; W is a hydrogen atom or a methyl group; and V is selected from substituents represented by the following: *-O-CnH2n-O-**; *-S-CnH2n-S-**; and *-S-CnH2n-O-**, wherein * represents a bond with an alkyl group; ** represents a bond with a (meth)acryloyl group; n is selected from 2, 3 and 4; and at least one hydrogen atom of -CnH2n- is replaced by a methyl group.


The rates of reduction by chromium(II) of Co(en)2(NH2CH2CO2)2+(carboxylate-bridged), Co(en)2(O2CCH2SMe)2+(carboxylate-bridged) and Co(en)2(NH2CH2SMe)3+(outer-sphere) indicate reactivity advantages for chelated bridging carboxylate and nonbridging cis thioether ligands in inner-sphere reactions and a high reactivity associated with thioether functions in outersphere reactions.


18 Human walking has previously been described as " controlled falling. " Some computational models, 19 however, suggest that gait may also have self-stabilizing aspects requiring little central nervous system 20 control. The fore-aft component of walking may even be passively stable from step to step, whereas 21 lateral motion may be unstable and require motor control for balance, as through active foot placement. If 22 this is the case, walking humans might rely less on integrative sensory feedback, such as vision, for 23 anterio-posterior (AP) balance than medio-lateral (ML). We tested whether healthy humans (N = 10) 24 exhibit such direction-dependent control, by applying low-frequency perturbations to the visual field (a 25 projected virtual hallway) and measuring foot placement during treadmill walking. We found step 26 variability to be nearly ten times more sensitive to ML perturbations than AP, as quantified by the 27 increase in root-mean-square step variability per unit change in perturbation amplitude. This is not simply 28 due to poorer physiological sensitivity of vision in the AP direction: Similar perturbations applied to quiet 29 standing produced reversed direction dependence, with an AP sensitivity 2.3 times greater than ML. 30 Tandem (heel-to-toe) standing yielded ML sensitivity 3.0 times greater than AP, suggesting that the base 31 of support influences the stability of standing. Postural balance nevertheless appears to require 32 continuous, integrative motor control for balance in all directions. In contrast, walking balance requires 33 step-by-step, integrative control for balance, but mainly in the lateral direction. In the fore-aft direction, 34 balance may be maintained through an " uncontrolled, " yet passively stabilized, series of falls. 35 36 37 3


including universal suffrage, freedom to participate in regular elections, and accurate and transparent administration of elections by politically neutral election officials. Geddis acknowledges that there can be debate about the meaning and application of these standards, and it can be a matter of legitimate debate whether or not elements of the electoral law or the conduct of a particular election conform with them. Nevertheless an important consequence of an election conducted more or less in accordance with them is that the losers accept the ultimate result, including the results of election petitions even when key elements are later reversed by a court decision as in 1980 in Wybrow v Chief Electoral Officer. These standards also allow Geddis to make principled criticisms of New Zealand's


In this study, for behavior clinical signs and blood tests when autumn sudden fevered disease, Tsutsugamushi Disease is Single infected with mixing hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrom.221 positive patients, who have antibody titer more than 1:80 in serologic examination of Tsutsugamushi Disease in a general hospital, Jeollanam-do province, were adopted as a Analysis. in respect of frequency. Single infection patients of Tsutsugamushi Disease were 183 and mixed infection patients with Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome were 38. In respect of age, patients over the 70`s were mostly infected. In respect of sex, male patients were 70(31.7%) and female patients were 151(66.8%) Women were more infected than men. In respect of outbreak time, the more than 70% disease occurrence of all was charged in October and November and it also occurred in spring. In the clinical signs, fever(p


Purpose of work is to create a new algorithm for predicting anomalous states of computer systems (CS) using the mathematical apparatus of multivalued dependencies (Multivalued Dependencies Prognosus Algorithm, MDPA), which are categorical concepts. The research method is the analysis of historical data using the mathematical apparatus of multivalued dependencies. Objects of study are theoretical and practical issues of solving and visualizing information security problems. Results of the study. A methodology and algorithm for predicting the state of CS have been developed. The boundaries of the input parameters of the algorithm are derived and justified. The boundaries of the input parameters need to be pre-configured for the correct generation of the prognosis. A software implementation of the proposed prediction algorithm has been developed. The efficiency of the algorithm has been tested on real experimental data. A spatial analysis of the prediction results was carried out. The main disadvantage of the proposed algorithm is the need to fine-tune the input parameters for each set of "historical data". Scientific significance. The scope of application of multivalued dependencies has been expanded; a new algorithm for predicting anomalous states of CS, which are categorical concepts, has been proposed. The developed prediction algorithm can be generalized to any subject area containing historical data of any type


The cyclic stress-strain response and microstructure were studied on LCF speci-mens of 15Cr-27Ni-1.8Ti-Fe alloy.The strain control LCF tests were performedat 600℃ under two different wave shapes:R=-1 and fixed e_(max).Comparingthe results of these tests,the detrimental effect of average tensile stress was prov-ed.This was concerned with the influence of tensile stress on the movements ofdislocations and the formation of cracks.The observations of dislocation structure indicated that during the cyclingboth mechanisms caused cyclic hardening and cyclic softening were taking place.Cyclic strain led to generate the stress field at the interface of γ and γ′phasesfirst.As a result of increasing stress field the dislocations were created.The densi-ty of dislocation was further increased by the movement of dislocations themself.The interactions between dislocations and γ′particles degenerated from pair disloca-tion cutting γ′particles to single dislocation cutting γ′particles.It led to formmore faults and ABP's,and the γ′particles became propressively harder to shearand ultimately led to dislocations looping around particles.A typical dislocation structure of persistant slip band,ladder-like structure,wasseen as a saturated dislocation structure in the slip band,and the more ladder-likestructure formed,the more cyclic softening happened.The slip band extends to grain boundaries and twin boundaries.The grain disloca-tion interacted with boundaries,and led to complex boundary dislocation struc-ture.The density of dislocation near grain boundaries and twin boundaries wasmuch higher than others since the boundaries can acted as the barrier and disloca-tion generator.This would cause to form grain boundary cracks and twin boun-dary cracks.


The automatic and electronic control of household features, activities, and appliances is referred to as home automation. It means that users may simply control their home's utilities and functions over the Internet, making life more easy and safe while also saving money on household expenses. Home automation is a network of hardware, communication, and electronic interfaces that operate together over the Internet. Each item is equipped with sensors and is connected through WiFi, allowing users to control them from their smartphone or tablet, whether they are at home or thousands of kilometres away. This allows users to turn on the lights, lock the front door, or even turn down the heater from anywhere


The aim of this study is to examine the position of the EU in world trade in agricultural products. Emphasis is placed on identifying the influence tendencies of liberalization of international trade in agricultural products on the development and character of the reform of EU agricultural policy. The EU is the world's largest exporter and importer of agricultural products, and thus represents the most important actor in the global agricultural market. Due to the adjustment to the conditions of the world market, the EU seeks to increase the budget for rural development and the funds independent of production volume in the total budget structure, while the goal of improving the competitiveness of European agriculture will be a top priority.


Aim: The present study was performed to evaluate the effect of different preparation designs [window, butt- Joint, and incisal overlap], on the fracture load of two CAD / CAM laminate veneer materials [Zirconia CAD / CAM and resinnanoceramic ; lava ultimate].Materials and Methods: Thirty maxillary anterior teeth were restored with ceramic laminate veneers and divided into 6 groups as follows: group I-A (laminates made of Ultra translucent zirconia CAD with window preparation design), group I-B (laminates made of Ultra translucent zirconia CAD with butt-joint preparation design), group I-C (laminates made of Ultra translucent zirconia CAD with incisal overlap preparation design), group II-A (laminates made of Lava ultimate (Resin nano ceramic) CAD with window preparation design), group II-B (laminates made of Lava ultimate CAD with butt-joint preparation design), group II-C (laminates made of Lava ultimate CAD with incisal overlap preparation design). Fracture load test was performed using the Universal Testing Machine (UTM). Data were statistically analyzed using One-way analysis of variance ANOVA followed by Tukey's multiple comparisontest. The results of the fracture load test were recorded in Newton: (I-A: 288.08N);(I-B: 322.47N); (I-C: 365.38N); (II-A: 301.15N); (II-B: 324.94N); (II-C: 394.95N). The results of the current study showed that there was no statistically significant difference between the means of fracture load for window, butt-joint and incisal overlap preparation designs among zirconia material. While, there was statistically highly significant difference between the means of fracture load for window, butt-joint and incisal overlap preparation designs among Lava ultimate material. The mean of fracture load for incisal over-lap preparation design was the highest, followed by butt-joint and window designs. Nonetheless, there were no statistically significant differences between translucent zirconia and lava ultimate regarding the fracture loadamong window, butt-joint and incisal overlap preparation designs.


ABSTRACT In the endogenous growth theory, the accumulation of knowledge is the main driver of growth. However, the mechanism for transforming knowledge into new goods and services depends on institutions. Using a growth accounting framework, we conclude that institutions contributed more than 0.3 percentage points to the estimated average annual growth rate of real output in 28 OECD countries between 2011 and 2017.


We report on the successful growth of free-standing GaN films on (0001) sapphire substrates by RF-molecular beam epitaxy. The key to obtain unstrained GaN layers is employing self-organized GaN nano-columns which involve an air gap structure as a footing layer of overgrown GaN. The residual strain in overgrown GaN films is evaluated by measuring the lattice constant by X-ray diffraction. It is found that the c-axis length of overgrown GaN is estimated to be 5.1848 Å, which is close to the value of strain-free GaN even with a layer thickness of 2.7 µm. Overgrown GaN peeled arbitrarily from GaN nano-columns is observed due to the cleaving process.


Measurements of body weight and skeletal size were collected from 215 tenants living in sheltered housing in Scotland, and compared with data from a study of 890 men and women, aged over 65 and living at home in Nottingham. A comparison between these two sets of information indicates that differences in mean weights were marginal, but that in those living in sheltered housing in Scotland (who were significantly older, P< 0.001) demispan was shorter [P< 0.001) and weight for size was greater [P< 0.001). Results indicate that those living in sheltered housing in Scotland maintained body weight slightly better than their counterparts living at home, despite being in poorer health. Improved maintenance of body weight in those of greater age and poorer health may be due to the practical and social support provided in sheltered housing. While caution is required where data from two separate geographical regions are compared and while further support may be advisable for some, it appears that sheltered housing plays a role in the maintenance of nutritional status as age and frailty increase.


The development of hospital management central shows that the method of managing hospital is changing. This article analyzes the importance of this management by CFO system and its function for hospital economic management. This system also contributes the monitoring coming from the property ownershiper.


GeV and TeV gamma rays have been detected from the supernova remnant W28 and its surroundings. Such emission correlates quite well with the position of dense and massive molecular clouds and thus it is often interpreted as the result of hadronic cosmic ray interactions in the dense gas. Constraints on the cosmic ray diffusion coefficient in the region can be obtained, under the assumption that the cosmic rays responsible for the gamma ray emission have been accelerated in the past at the supernova remnant shock, and subsequently escaped in the surrounding medium. In this scenario, gamma ray observations can be explained only if the diffusion coefficient in the region surrounding the supernova remnant is significantly suppressed with respect to the average galactic one.


The paper has discussed the concept and basic principles of the participatory training, its comparison with the Chinese traditional training approach as well as its application in the Sino-German Afforestation Project Western Shanxi Province. It elaborated roles of the participatory training approach in the Project and in the community's sustainable development, and will provide guiding importance to the extension and application of this approach.


Blockchain is an incredible concept that creates trust and maintains a distributed environment without the demand of any third party. This concept has disrupted many industries including IoT. Researchers have found that blockchain has the proficiency to provide a solution for IoT software-related security issues including improper authentication of a device, unauthorized connection with a device, physical and hardware security flaws. The major challenge lies in integrating Blockchain with resource-constrained devices of IoT at the thing layer. This paper provides a broad perspective of integrating these two technologies. It highlights the guidelines for the necessity of blockchain for IoT based applications and a summary of the related work carried out on the integration of Blockchain with IoT. A successful experimental setup was done to implement blockchain on IoT based Smart Laboratory system to show the feasibility of the integration.


The invention relates to a device for the safe isolation of a nuclear power plant (18, 20) from the electric supply mains (16) during a mains failure, said device being equipped with a disconnecting element and a load shedding unit. The disconnecting element can disconnect the nuclear power plant (18, 20) from the supply mains (16) and the load shedding unit can reduce the isolated load that is thus produced in a staggered manner, in accordance with the power that was drawn from the mains supply (16) prior to the mains failure. In said device, the load shedding unit is integrated into the disconnecting element to form a module (22).


The control server is the most important core part of partially decentralized P2P Botnet.The authors designed and implemented the partially decentralized P2P Botnet control server based on the select model of Socket.The primary functions and the relation of them were introduced in detail.The work flow and important data structure were presented.Compared with the traditional IRC Botnet and decentralized P2P Botnet,the differences on occupation of resource,speed of message transmission,control mode,and so on were discussed.According to the result of experiment,both function and capability of this control server meet the need of decentralized P2P Botnet.


Although discovery practice in Ohio is a frequently discussed subject, there is little to be found on Ohio Revised Code § 2317.48 entitled Action For Discovery.' This is because most discovery is governed by the Ohio Rules of Civil Procedure 2 which limit the Ohio practitioner, with one exception, to discovery subsequent to the filing of a complaint. However, a closer look at Ohio Revised Code § 2317.48 reveals a means of discovery which is not known to many Ohio practitioners: discovery before a suit has been commenced.


Data from Abidjan Ivory Coast are used to analyze the effect of urbanization on fertility and other demographic behavior. No reliable series of data from Africa has demonstrated fertility decline in a rural zone but there are indications of slight fertility declines in some urban areas. Ivory Coast Fertility Survey data indicated that fertility was lower by about 1 child in large cities and 1/2 child in secondary cities than in rural areas. Methodological differences and variations in sampling procedures have led to some biases in data collected over the past 15 years. An increase in the number of young wives who accompany their migrant spouses to Abidjan may have led to an increase in fertility. Fertility should be analyzed according to social levels in a complex city like Abidjan in order to understand trends and differentials. Application of multiple classification analysis to data from Abidjan indicates variations in fertility according to several socioeconomic variables. Illiterate mothers in Abidjan have 6.48 children on average compared to 2.88 for the most highly educated 4% of women. The effect of maternal education on family size begins to be observed however only at the secondary school level in Abidjan. The type of housing is closely correlated to fertility in Abidjan as elsewhere in Africa. The total fertility rate was 2.89 among women aged 15-49 in the most comfortable neighborhoods 5.07 in the less wealthy but still modern residential neighborhoods 5.71 in the mass housing where some 55% of the population of Abidjan reside and 7.88 in the most precarious housing primarily occupied by workers from Burkina Faso and other countries. Educational level and housing type are closely correlated. Even in the less wealthy higher fertility areas many women wish to terminate or slow their childbearing. But according to Ivory Coast Fertility Survey data only 11.4% of women not wanting more children use contraception. Fertility changes occur through changes in the family marriage and modes of circulation of children. Variations in household size depend largely on their composition. Extended family households are the most common type in the wealthier residential neighborhoods; excluding single person households they account for 82% in the wealthiest neighborhoods but only 30% in the poorest.


This paper discusses a methodological question: How to automatically extract phonetically important but untranscribed information (such as VOT and closure duration) from a large spontaneous speech corpus? In this study, we made use of the exemplar‐based similarity scores, first developed in Johnson 2006, to find the point of burst in voiceless stops in the Buckeye speech corpus. A similarity score is in essence a measure of how similar one piece of acoustic information is to another on the spectrogram. When used together with phonal spectral templates of the speaker, it can be used to measure how similar a piece of acoustic data is to, say, the typical [aa], or the typical [f] of the same speaker. We find that a two‐dimensional score vector ( score plus score) is already adequate to recognize burst in stops and the pattern is robust enough across a wide range of context in uncontrolled spontaneous speech. It works confidently on average around 90% of the time; the mean error is estimated to ...


Something has failed, if the crimes against the humanity prevail over "the rights of the humanity" (Rousseau). The moral basis of the problem of the reciprocal recognition, as individual as social, has no set up or has forgeted. The maquiavelian and hobbesian model has us keeped to the fundamentalist forms highest extremes. The plural and global democracy is the unequivocal alternative to solve the problem of the reciprocal recognition upon a moral basis, but with the legal and political guarantees.


Preterm birth (PTB) is a global health issue and one of the most challenging problems affecting 12.9 million births worldwide. PTB is a multi-etiological disease and remains incompletely understood. The major cause of PTB is infection or inflammation and disruption of the vaginal microbiome, which affects the maternal immunologic response leading to PTB. The vaginal microbiome composition changes by a shift in the community are typically dominated by Lactobacillus during pregnancy. There are complex interactions between the maternal microbiome in pregnancy and the development of PTB, therefore, researchers have struggled to connect the maternal microbiome with the dysregulation of the maternal immune response in cases of PTB. The host microbiome affects alterations of the microorganisms with external stimuli such as disease, nutrition, immunity, and behavior. In this review, we discuss the complex association between the maternal microbiome and the risk of PTB and also focus on recent aspects of the prevention of PTB.


Performance appraisal is the co mprehensive and dynamic managerial process dependent on the job analysis and scientific appraisal index system.The Former Performance Appraisal System for Teachers in Higher Vocational Colleges failed to orient and appraise performance properly.397 teachers from seven different colleges in Soochow were investigated by selfmade questionnaire in this study,By means of EFA and SEM,The model forteachers in highervocational colleges was confirmed as well.Meanwhile,AHP was adopted to establish the Performance Appraisal System on the basis of competency model.The result showed that the reliability and validity of the selfmade questionnaire are favorable and Performance Appraisal System established by competency model and AHP is acceptable.


Background: Dysfunctional postural control is one of the key problems in children with cerebral palsy (CP) which interfere with the activities of daily life. Balance has been viewed as a skill that the nervous system learns to achieve using many systems including passive biomechanical elements, all available sensory systems and muscles and jointly many different parts of the brain. Slowness in motor conduction or delay brain in processing are causing balance impairment, which causing frequent falling of children with CP. Aim: To evaluate the effect of using universal exercise unit (UEU) in strengthening program for both lower limb and its effect on standing balance in spastic diplegia. Subject: thirty spastic diplegic children of both genders (13 boys, 17girls), their age ranged from 4 to 8 years old recruited from outpatient clinic, Faculty of Physical therapy, Cairo University. They were randomly classified into two groups of equal number (control and study). Procedures: the control group received a designed physical therapy program while study group received UEU program in addition to the designed physical therapy program. Total work was assessed by using Biodex balance system before and after the application of the treatment program. Results: There was a significant decrease in the overall stability index in the study group compared with control group after treatment (p = 0.001) Conclusion: universal exercise unit may be considered as an effective method to improve standing balance in children with spastic CP.


Photograhic portrait of a woman standing in front of building pillars wearing nurse s uniform of the British Red Cross in World War I


With an analysis on influence factor of gas emission initial speed in the borehole and the relationship of the stress distribution status in the front of the coal mining face, the paper showed that the test depth of the gas emission speed in the borehole should be through the seam pressure released zone into a plastic ultra stress district of a stress concentrated zone. As for the seams with different mine geological conditions, a site measurement should be made for the area of the seam pressure released zone and the plastic stress district in the front of the coal mining face in order to correctly measure the initial rational test depth of the gas emission speed in the borehole.


Polymermicrosphereswith narrowsizedistribution have beengenerally prepared by soap-freeemulsion polymerization, dispersion polymerization, or precipitation polymerization. Thesemethods have been utilized complementarily dependi ng on the particle size.The control of functionalgroupdensityanddiameteris importantfor the properties of polymer microspheres . However, independent control of particle size and functional group densi ty cannotbe achieved by one-steppolymerization. So far two-steppolymerization methods suchas two-stageshot growth process or seededpolymerization have been employed to control both the particle size and the functional groupdensity. The mercapt o group has specific reactivities such as strong nucleophilicity, radical capture properties, and strongbinding with noblemetal ions . Howeverit is difficult to directly introducethe mercapto group into polymer microspheresbecauseof its high radicalchain transfer activity. Thus, the microspheres having mercapto groupshave beenpreparedby two preparationsteps,i. e., the introduction of functional groups such as isothiuronium salts, epoxides, or thioacet ates into polymer particles, and their subsequentconversionto mercapt o groupson thepolymersurface. Recent ly, we havereporteda novel methodfor prepar ing polymer microspher es having mercapto groups,by meansof the polycondensationof a,x-alkanedithiol and a,x-dibromoalkane in the presence of polystyrene latex. The condensationreaction proceedsin the polystyrenelatex, andthe endgroups of the polysulfide, i. e., mercaptogroups, areimmobilizeddirectly onto thepolyFull Paper: Polymermicrosphereswith mercaptogroups were synthesizedby polycondensationof a,x-alkanedithiol anda,x-dibromoalkanein the presenceof a poly[styrene-N-(hydroxymethyl)acrylamide] latex (PSHMAm). Monodispersemicrosphereswere obtained in quantitativeyield. The sulfur contentof the microspheres was comparableto that calculatedfrom the feed ratio, indicatingthat thepolycondensationproceedsin thepolymer particles.The immobilization of the mercaptogroup onto the microsphereis significantly influenced by the molar ratio of dithiol to dibromideandthediameterof the PS-HMAm particles used in the polycondensation.The mercaptogroupcontentof themicrosphereincreaseswith themolarratio of dithiol to dibromide.Thepolycondensation with small seedparticles(0,127lm) affordedmicrosphereswith high mercaptogroup contents.On the contrary, upon use of large ones (0,456 lm) the mercapto groupcontentis decreased.


The method of the present invention relates to the operation of the heating furnace using the hydrogen-rich gas as furnace fuel (1). Furnace (1) has a number of burners (17) for burning fuel supplied thereto. The method includes providing an ignition means for ignite at least one burner of a number of burners. The amount capable of forming a flammable mixture, the combustible gases containing oxygen-containing gas and a hydrocarbon gas is supplied to each of a number of burners (17). Set fire to one predetermined burner, then the fire, of a number of burners (17), it is propagated to other burner of at least one predetermined burner. Then, until the hydrogen flame at each of a number of burners (17) for fixing, at least a majority of the hydrocarbon gas to replace the hydrogen-rich gas, changing the composition of the combustible gas over a period of time.


Abstract The paper presents the first publication for the scenes and hieroglyphic inscriptions of the Stela CG 34096 – SR 3/ 10165 - Cairo Museum, dating to the New Kingdom ( pl.1, fig.1). Keywords: Funerary stelae - Stela CG 34096 – Cairo Museum Stelae. 1. Basic information's Discovery: (?) Date: New Kingdom (late 18th and early 19th dynasty era). Owners: Nebanensu and Amenhotep – Nb ann sw & Imn Htp Material: Sandstone. Dimensions: H: 50cm, W: 38cm, D:7cm. Condition: good, with traces of colors remain. 2. Description A painted arch-topped rectangular stone slab funerary stela, divided into three main parts: the Lunette and two registers. A horizontal line separates the two registers of the stela, while its edge is surrounded by a single thin line. All figures and hieroglyphic inscriptions are executed in shallow sunk relief featuring inner details. The stela follows the classic style of stelae which appeared and became widespread in use since the Middle Kingdom. The same style and probably by the hand of the same artist who engraved the stela CG 34035. The back of the stelae (the verso) was usually polished with no scenes or texts ; rarely was it left rough. (Bierbrier, 1999)


The invention discloses a magneto-rheological semiactive multiple-degree-of-freedom parallel damping device. Three completely identical branches connected in parallel are arranged between and to connect a fixed platform and a moving platform; a magneto-rheological damper is installed on the branches and along the moving pair of the main load direction; the invention adopts a single-layer structure to achieve the purpose of multidimensional damping; the main load direction adopts variable-damping magneto-rheological damper to replace the moving pair, and as a result, the adaptability of the damping device is enhanced. The device has a simple and compact structure, high precision, and is easy to control; and the device can be further promoted and applied to the damping of relevant equipments mounted on vehicles, ships, planes, invalid beds, etc.


Carruthers seeks to explain phenomenal awareness in terms of higher-order representations, i.e. representations of representations. There are serious problems with this view. First, it rests on a dubious distinction between phenomenal properties of the world and phenomenal properties of our experience of the world. Second, it fails to explain why a representation of a representation is necessary or sufficient for the experience of phenomenal properties. Third, it denies conscious awareness to entities who are clearly in possession of it. One can imagine alternative explanations of phenomenal awareness that are no more speculative than Carruthers' and that don't face these problems. Thalia, my four-year-old daughter, loves to be tickled. "That tickles," she'll say, when I tickle her. "Tickle me some more." Sophia, my two-year-old daughter, also loves to be tickled. Grabbing her from behind I'll place my fingertips on either side of her rib cage and rub up and down so that her skin slides over her ribs like a sausage casing. She can endure only a few seconds of this intense form of rapture. Soon her legs buckle and she melts into a quivering mound of giggling girl. The giggles slowly subside, she lets out a satisfied sigh and, eyes sparkling, says, "Daddy tickle 'gain." I describe this blissful scene not because I wish to boast of my tickling talents, but because it serves to introduce a remarkable claim to which Carruthers is happily committed. According to Carruthers, Thalia and Sophia enjoy a good tickle for very different reasons. Thalia loves to be tickled because tickling makes her feel a certain way. She is phenomenally aware of a tickling sensation and it is this sensation that she seeks when she implores me to tickle her. Sophia, on the other hand, having not yet developed the concepts necessary to recognize her experience as of being tickled, is not phenomenally aware of being tickled. Her reaction to my vibrating fingertips no more suggests that she is phenomenally conscious of a tickling sensation than does a thermometer's reaction to temperature suggest that it is phenomenally conscious of warmth. Sophia is in good company. According to Carruthers, it is not only children under three who lack phenomenal awareness, but all animals other than perhaps some great apes (ourselves included) are also phenomenally unaware. Don't scratch your dog behind the ears if your intent is to give it pleasure. It doesn't feel a thing. On my view, any theory of consciousness that denies that Sophia has a feeling of being tickled is not truly a theory of consciousness. Of course Sophia is conscious of being tickled. Similarly, of course the whimpering dog is aware of its pain. Any theory of consciousness that disputes these facts has simply changed the meaning of 'consciousness' and is offering us an account of something else. It is like a theory of planetary motion that tells us that the planets stand still or a theory of evolution that tells us that species are immutable. One doesn't explain conscious phenomena by denying its existence. But what drives Carruthers to such a view? It is a distinction he draws between worldlysubjectivity and mental-state-subjectivity. Carruthers claims that we need to distinguish between phenomenal properties of the world (or of the organism's own body), on the one hand, and phenomenal properties of one's experience of the world (or of one's experience of one's body) on the other (p. 7). Both Thalia and Sophia can recognize phenomenal properties of the world, but only Thalia can recognize the phenomenal properties of her experiences of the world. The rise in the mercury column shows that the thermometer is sensitive to temperature but does not suggest that the thermometer can actually feel warmth. Likewise, Sophia's giggles reveal that she is sensitive to my fingertips without indicating that she is phenomenally aware of a tickling feeling. But what are phenomenal properties of the world? I'd be very surprised to learn that the world has any phenomenal properties. Organisms with the right psychological equipment have phenomenal experiences of properties of the world. Likewise, when Carruthers chastens Tye for sliding from claims about what color is like for an organism to claims about what experiences of color are like for an organism (p. 5) I find myself wondering where Tye has gone wrong. Assume color is a property of the world. Surely what color is like for an organism is not a property of the world, but a property of the organism. Accordingly, it seems natural to equate, as Tye apparently has, an organism's experience of color with what color is like for the organism. When I tickle an automobile the automobile feels nothing. It lacks the psychological equipment to feel tickles. However, the movement of my fingertips along the surface of the car is just like the movement of my fingertips along Thalia's belly. This movement is a property in the world. It is not a phenomenal property, because only phenomenally conscious organisms can have phenomenal properties. Moreover, there is nothing it is like for the car to be tickled. Cars have no experiences. In contrast, my fingertips do cause a phenomenal property in Thalia. There is something it is like to be tickled for Thalia. Thalia experiences the tickling. If there are distinctions to be drawn here it is between a property in the world and Thalia's phenomenal experience of this property. I don't see any distinction worth drawing between phenomenal properties in the world and phenomenal experiences of these properties, nor do I see any distinction worth drawing between what tickling is like for Thalia and Thalia's experience of tickling. This said, I would agree with Carruthers that there is a distinction between representations of properties in the world and representations of representations of properties in the world. A painting represents properties in the world and a photograph of a painting can thereby be a representation of a representation. When I perceive a photograph of a painting I form a third-order representation. But why should any of this be significant in an account of conscious experience? Carruthers thinks that unless subjects are able to represent representations of the world they are unable to have phenomenal awareness. Phenomenal awareness, for Carruthers, is an awareness not of the world, but of a representation of the world. Until Sophia is able to represent her representation of being tickled, she will be aware only of the world and not of her experience of the world. This view seems unnecessarily complicated. It's the tickling Thalia feels, not her feeling of being tickled. It's the dog's barking I hear, not my perception of the dog's barking. There's good reason for this. Our sensory organs are directed outward toward the world (or our body) because it is properties in the world (or in our bodies) to which we must respond. It's the flame that burns us, not our representation of the flame, so it had better be the flame of which we are aware. Carruthers is willing to live with the complications of the higher-order account because he believes it, unlike a mere first-order account of experience, can make sense of episodes like the one Armstrong (1980) describes: we drive from here to there without being phenomenally aware of all that goes on between. Our successful arrival proves that we must have detected the obstacles along the way, but our inability to recount what these obstacles were shows that we were phenomenally unaware of them. The reason for this gap in our phenomenal experience, Carruthers holds, is that in the course of our trip we didn't bother to form representations of our representations of the world. The representations of the world were by themselves sufficient to steer us safely to our destination, but, having failed to form representations of these experiences, we had no phenomenal awareness. I do not find Carruthers' higher-order explanation of Armstrong's example compelling. It is the stop signs, other cars, pedestrians, etc., of which we are unaware en route, not our experiences of these things. Accordingly, we should look for another way to explain why we sometimes are unaware of worldly properties to which we are obviously reacting and other times not. Why not think of our perceptual experiences as sometimes entering a channel that makes us phenomenally aware of what they represent and other times bypassing this channel? When I'm driving around town thinking about a lecture I need to prepare, my perceptions of the scenery bypass the phenomenal awareness channel. When, on the other hand, I need to attend more closely to the world, to heighten my awareness of the world, I elect (perhaps unconsciously) to make my perceptions of the world conscious. Accordingly, my perceptions of the world get funneled through the phenomenal awareness channel. Phenomenal awareness, on this picture, requires no higher-order representational capacities. This account of why we are sometimes phenomenally aware of the world and why we are sometimes not is pure speculation on my part. However, it seems no more speculative than Carruthers' account, and it has the advantage of consistency with the facts: Sophia is aware of being tickled and dogs are aware of pain.


Various micro-transducers incorporating piezoelectric materials for converting energy in one form to useful energy in another form are disclosed. In one embodiment, a piezoelectric micro-transducer can be operated either as a micro-heat engine, converting thermal energy into electrical energy, or as a micro-heat pump, consuming electrical energy to transfer thermal energy from a low-temperature heat source to a high-temperature heat sink. In another embodiment, a piezoelectric micro-transducer is used to convert the kinetic energy of an oscillating or vibrating body on which the micro-transducer is placed into useful electrical energy. A piezoelectric micro-transducer also is used to extract work from a pressurized stream of fluid. Also disclosed are a micro-internal combustion engine and a micro-heat engine based on the Rankine cycle in which a single fluid serves as a working fluid and a fuel.


Typical modeling strategies involve model selection, which has a significant effect on inference of estimated parameters. Common practice is to use a selected model ignoring uncertainty introduced by the process of model selection. This could yield overoptimistic inferences, resulting in false discovery. In this article we develop a general methodology via optimal approximation for estimating the mean and variance of complex statistics that involve the process of model selection. This allows us to make approximately unbiased inferences, taking into account the selection process. We examine the operating characteristics of the proposed methodology via asymptotic analyses and simulations. These results show that the proposed methodology yields correct inferences and outperforms common alternatives.


The World Wide Web is nowadays the most famous and widespread information system. Its success is witnessed by its enormous size and rate of growth: however, the same success of the Web has brought to a situation where more sophisticated techniques are urgently needed to properly handle this mass of information. In this sense, the more ambitious plan for an evolution of a Web is the so called Semantic Web, envisioned by the inventor of the Web itself, Tim Berners-Lee. In this architectural vision, there is the need for further layers of semantics, properly enriching the data that now overflow the classic Web: ontologies, rules, logic, proofs, trust are all ingredients of this ambitious picture. Given these premises, it should not come as a surprise the fact that this evolution is bringing the Web closer and closer to another field, that since quite some time has been facing similar problems of logical organization of knowledge: logic programming. Early examples, like the Metalog system in the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), had shown that connecting logic programming and the Semantic Web was quite a natural and fruitful step: and in fact, the burst of research in Semantic Web developments has eventually started to touch, connect and reinterprete many topics that were and are mainstream of the logic programming area. We feel this is a necessary progression, as the Semantic Web, and more generally the Web of the future, has a lot to learn from research in the logic programming area. And, conversely, in these new scenarios there are lot of new applied problems that can be challenging and rewarding from a logic programming perspective. This calls for a tighter interaction between the Web and logic programming, which was the reason to motivate this special issue as well: gathering together a selection of the best contributions that could showcase the potential of the cross-breeding.


The objective of present study is vibartion control of passenger seat in active quarter car model having three degrees of freedom. Passenger ride comfort issues are considered under random road excitation using simulation work in time and frequency domain. The designed supertwisting controller is applied in main suspension of active quarter car model. The proposed controller showed effectiveness in vibration suppression of passenger seat acceleration and displacement responses as compared to passive one. Simulation work in graphical and mathematical results showed the superior performance of the designed supertwisting sliding mode controller.


Cell motility is vital in many physiological and pathological processes, such as embryogenesis, inflammation, wound healing, and metastasis. However, the time‐consuming step in the evaluation of individual cell motility is the analysis of hundreds of recorded images of cell cultures in general consisting of retrieving images, one at a time, and marking the positions of individual cells by a computer mouse. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to develop a novel automatic procedure for the evaluation of cell motility.


The paper describes the SLX-based simulation of the Riga Baltic Container Terminal (BCT) and the visualization of the model based on Proof Animation for Windows. The work is a result of the INCO2 1997 Project PL976012 DAMAC HP, funded by the European Commission, DGXIII. SLX-BASED SIMULATION SLX is a discrete event simulation tool for the Windows 95/98/NT/2000 operating systems developed by the Wolverine Software Corporation (Henriksen 1997a). SLX is a classical simulation language-oriented stand-alone tool that includes a programming language with a C-like syntax. SLX is the designated successor of the well-known GPSS/H. When transferring an existing GPSS/H simulation model to SLX, the user has two general options for doing this: a) The user can use the SLX-hosted implementation of GPSS, contained in the H5/H6.SLX modules. This implementation was built to support the adoption process of old GPSS users converting to SLX. At the same time it demonstrates one of the main strengths of SLX, its extensibility. Within the SLX language the users can define their own statements and thus build simulation packages on top of the actual SLX language. This has been done with the GPSS language. The SLXhosted implementation of GPSS supports the GPSS language to a large extend, but not completely. Some re-writing of GPSS models may be necessary to adopt them to make them run under SLX. b) The other choice is to completely re-develop an existing GPSS/H model with the native SLX constructs and approaches. While at the first view this seems to be the more time-consuming approach it also has several advantages. In a lot of cases, techniques used for producing good GPSS/H models result in bad SLX models, if models are transliterated from GPSS/H to SLX, or if new SLX models are developed imitating GPSS/H style. Probably the biggest offending technique is using integer indices to access entities. In GPSS/H, this is the only way to access a facility in the single collection of facilities available at run-time. In SLX, one can have arrays of facilities, facilities as subobjects, dynamically created facilities, etc. Failure to take advantage of these improved ways of organizing data and objects is resulting in badly readable SLX models. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SIMULATION MODEL FOR RIGA BCT In the development of an SLX based simulation model of the Baltic Container Terminal (BCT) it also had to be decided which strategy was to be used. An GPSS/H model of the harbor was existing (at least in major parts). In first experiments it was tried to use approach a) described above. Soon the disadvantages of this approach were discovered and the development efforts were redirected to use approach b). One extra-advantage of this approach is that native SLX models can easily fit into the HLA world view of objects and interactions (Strasburger 1998, 1999). This tremendously facilitates the interoperability aspects, e.g., if in future the BCT model should be coupled with other components or programs. The implementation of the BCT in SLX has been structured in the following way: For all moving entities of the model, active SLX object classes have been defined. SLX distinguishes between active and passive objects. While passive objects merely function as complex data types, i.e., a collection of attributes without own functionality, active objects also define the properties, i.e., the behavior, of a class. The active objects contained in the model include the following classes: • cl_Ship models the arriving ships, their unloading and loading processes, and their departure • cl_Trailer models the trailers moving through the container yard • cl_Crane models the different cranes located in the harbor. Different sub-types exist for instance for the quay cranes and the railway cranes • cl_Train models arriving and departing trains and their loading and unloading • cl_Truck models truck sets which arrive and deliver/receive containers Fig. 1 and 2 depict the relationships between the most important classes of the model and also shows their attributes and properties. cl_Ship Containers for import and export Number of Q-Cranes -> Type: big or small Arrival time, pause times


Dichloro phosphorspirol was synthesized at 80 ℃ by phoshorus oxychloride and pentaerythritol with toluene as solvent,AlCl_3 as catalyst and the structure of the product obtained under different reacting condition was analyzed. Results show the proposed method can simplify the purification process greatly and the after treatmentation process is easy.


Exosomes serve important functions in cell-to-cell communication and biological functions by serving as a delivery cargo shuttle for various molecules. The application of an improved delivery method for microRNAs (miRNAs/miRs) may enhance their potential as a therapeutic tool in cardiac diseases. Thus, the present study investigated whether human peripheral blood-derived exosomes may be used as a delivery cargo system for miRNAs, and whether the delivery of miR-21 using a human peripheral blood derived-exosome may influence the degree of remodeling following myocardial infarction (MI). In H9C2 and HL-1 cells, miR-21 expression was successfully regulated by treatment with human peripheral blood derived-exosomes loaded with an miR-21 mimic or inhibitor compared with untreated cells. In addition, the mRNA and protein expression levels of SMAD family member 7 (Smad7), phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) and matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP2), which are involved in cardiac fibrosis, were associated with the uptake of miR-21 mimic- or inhibitor-loaded exosomes. Similarly, the in vivo mRNA and protein expression of Smad7, PTEN and MMP2 were altered following treatment with miR-21 mimic- or inhibitor-loaded exosomes. Furthermore, miR-21 mimic-loaded exosomes enhanced fibrosis, whereas miR-21 inhibitor-loaded exosomes reduced fibrosis in a mouse MI model. These results suggested that miRNA-loaded human peripheral blood derived-exosomes may be used as a therapeutic tool for cardiac diseases.


This paper presents the preliminary results of an ongoing computational and experimental study of common impact situations in mechanical systems involving both rigid and flexible bodies. It is demonstrated that a characterization diagram that shows the relationship of three non-dimensional parameters with the normalized maximum impact force, can be used to fully describe the impact response. The governing non-dimensional parameters can be obtained a priori by analytical, experimental, or computational means. Impact situations having the same non-dimensional parameters, have dynamic similarity and have the same non-dimensional response. Furthermore, they can be placed in appropriate dynamic regions in which simplified dynamic models can be used to predict the response. Therefore, the characterization methodology has the potential to identify the most suitable model for a given impact situation.Copyright © 2008 by ASME


This thesis treats about parallel simulation of multi-agent systems (MAS), in particular behaviours of situated agents: autonomous entities acting in an environment. Simulation of traffic jams, people or animal populations are some of its applications. Nowadays, there is a lack of efficient parallel simulators of these systems, useful to reduce the execution time of high-scale simulations. In this context, our contribution is threefold: (1)~provide a simulation model of high-scale MASs, called ParSSAP, (2)~do a parallel algorithmic work in MASs, and (3)~provide an implementation of this model through a parallel library. In this dissertation we start by introducing MASs, their parallelisation issues and the state of the art in MAS simulation. Afterwards, we detail our contribution: the simulation model we have conceived, the parallel algorithmics we have designed in two agent percepts provided in our library (computing of vision fields and potential field propagation), the documentation of our library and a few applications together with their execution performance. Finally, we present the conclusions of our work. Our model and its parallel implementation are targeted to easy utilisation and efficient execution. They may yet be enriched, nevertheless our library allows already to easily build efficient applications on modern parallel computers.


The paper proposes a three‐dimensional buckling finite element method (FEM) to calculate the tilt limit force of the rectangular winding of an amorphous alloy transformer. The short‐circuit leakage magnetic FEM is used to calculate the axially distributed force of the transformer. The maximum axial compression force is obtained by integrating the short‐circuit distributed force along the axial height of the winding. The model is used to characterize the axial stability of the transformer by means of the maximum compression force and the size of the tilt limit force, and thus to formulate the evaluation criterion of the axial instability of the amorphous alloy transformer. The proposed method is verified by the calculation results of the tilt limit force and by checking the axial stability of the rectangular winding of an actual amorphous alloy transformer. The analysis results show that reducing the size difference of the rectangular winding between the long side and the short side and increasing the width of the wire will improve the tilt limit force. Experimental results of the short‐circuit test on several amorphous alloy transformers verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. © 2017 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.


From my hotel room window we had a splendid view of the Pearl River. "See those rew houses?" said Comrade Lin, pointing to the south side. "Many ofthe former 'boat people' live there now. They have settled down-on solid ground." I knew the "boat people" of Kwangchow. I knew their past. Twenty-five yearshad gone by since I saw them last; but what I had seen never faded from my memory.


A compact dual broadband dipole type antenna for receiving DMB(Digital Multimedia broadcasting) and WLAN(Wireless Local Area Network) is provided to minimize a space required when being installed in a moving object using a laptop computer or a wireless network. A compact dual broadband dipole type antenna for receiving DMB and WLAN includes a dielectric layer(100), a ground plate(200), a radiator(300), and a feeding point(400). The ground plate(200) is positioned on a left surface of the dielectric layer(100) with respect to a center line dividing the dielectric layer(100) into two equal parts. The radiator(300) is positioned on a right surface of the dielectric layer(100) with respect to the center line dividing the dielectric layer(100) into the two equal parts. The feeding point(400) penetrates a center point of the center line dividing the dielectric layer(100) into the two equal parts from top to bottom, and supplies electricity.


133 male patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus were divided into non-atherogenic phenom( N group ) and atherogenic phenom( A group) according to the c utpoint of atherogenic index of plasma (AIP) at 0.06.The clinical chemistry data were compared between two groups.The results showed that body mass index ( BMI ),waist-tohip ratio (WHR),homeostasis model assessment insulin resistance index ( HOMA-IR ) and insulin secretion index (HOMA-IS),serum triglyceride (TG),very low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (VLDL-C),serum uric acid ( SUA ),urine uric acid ( UUA ),and urine micro-albumin ( UMA ) levels in A group were higher than those in N group ( all P<0.05 ),while high density lipoprotein-cholesterol ( HDL-C ) level was lower ( P<0.01 ),as well as higher coronary heart disease incidence in A group as compared with N group( P<0.05 ).Correlation analysis revealed that AIP was positively related with age,BMI,WHR,HOMA-IR,HOMA-IS,systolic blood pressure,diastolic blood poressure,TG,total cholesterol,VLDL-C,SUA,UUA,and UMA( all P<0.05 ),and negatively related with HDL-C (P<0.01).Multivariant stepwise linear regression analysis revealed that TG,HDL-C,V LDL-C,and UUA were independent influential factors for AIP.

Key words:
Diabetes mellitus, type 2; Atherogenic index of plasma; Risk factors


Recent results on baryon production in relativistic heavy i on collisions show that a revision of the chemical freeze-out conditions is necessary. Particularl y, there is evidence that chemical freezeout does not occur at full chemical equilibrium. We present a method to reconstruct original hadronization conditions and show that the newly found poin ts i theT − μB plane are in very good agreement with extrapolations of the lattice QCD criti cal line.


Nowadays, digital voice assistants (DVAs) such as Amazon's Alexa, Google's Assistant, or Apple's Siri provide speech-oriented human-computer interfaces that have the potential to make consumers' interaction with other consumers, firms, or devices more convenient, enjoyable, and productive. However, at least currently, DVA acceptance is limited, even among digital natives and corresponding explanations are missing. This paper seeks to close this gap by investigating which factors have an impact on DVA acceptance. Therefore, we develop a new approach that combines elements of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) as well as the Uses and Gratifications Approach (UGA). A sample of 283 digital natives participated in a Siri field experiment. The results demonstrate that especially enjoyment, but also social status and social influence are main DVA acceptance drivers. Nevertheless, Millennials have some privacy concerns about companies getting too much personal information while using DVAs. This study provides valuable insights into main drivers of DVA acceptance. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.


Installation Restoration Sites 24 and 25 were formerly used pistol ranges at Naval Weapons Station Earle. The sites were targeted for cleanup to mitigate the potential for runoff of metals (primarily lead) in surface water and groundwater. The cleanup objective was to remove 90% of the small-caliber projectiles deposited in sandy berms without interfering with mission critical operations. Therefore, the cleanup work required a tight execution schedule and close communication between Navy and contractor personnel. A cleanup approach maximizing the use of Naval Weapons Earle personnel and equipment in the cleanup process was implemented. The strengths of station personnel and equipment were supplemented with those of Metcalf & Eddy, a contractor accessed via the Navy's Remedial Action Contract (RAC) administered by Northern Division, Naval Facilities Engineering Command. Initially, dry screening and disposal were evaluated to separate lead from berm soils. However, a treatability study of this method indicated as much as 59 percent of the berm material would be commingled with the lead, making recycling impractical. Subsequent soil-washing feasibility studies indicated more than 95% of the berm material could be recovered for reuse in restoration, while recovering more than 98% of the lead in the berm. Based on these findings, soil washing was selected for implementation. Over the period September 3, 1996 through October 3, 1996, the cleanup was executed. The station provided not only direct labor to the job, such as heavy equipment operators, truck drivers and hazardous waste handlers, but also support personnel and infrastructure. Additionally, the station's Explosives Ordnance Disposal team was on standby and was consulted when live rounds were found. The station's fire department also issued hot work permits and monitored the job from start to finish. The Navy forces were augmented by construction management personnel, process operators, and field-sampling personnel from Metcalf & Eddy.


The main result of the quick reactions of the Federal Reserve (the Fed) and the European Central Bank (ECB) to the Covid-19 crisis are that more than 20% of their public debt is now held by these central banks and that the balance sheet of the ECB is now near 50% of GDP (33% for the Fed). Two questions arise from this situation. Is this new ECB policy of quantitative easing a monetisation policy forbidden by the EU treaty? According to the ECB this policy being exceptional and temporary isn't. The second is more radical because some politicians call for pure cancellation of part or all of the public debts held by the ECB knowing that the capital of the bank is ultimately held by the 19 states of the Eurozone. We explain why such a policy would be clearly a breach of the UE treaty and would bring strong long term disadvantages.